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You can't avoid all the chatter about identity access management here in late 2016, because there are so many inherent holes in older systems without efficient IAM that hackers are easily abusing, thus causing resultant daily mayhem.

As 2017 approaches, cloud computing, mobility and the internet of things continue to erode traditional organizational boundaries. The ability to share data freely yet securely is becoming a key driver of competitive advantage. For many organizations, however, the requirement to share and collaborate is outweighed by those serious security vulnerabilities.

So as its contribution toward helping solve these issues, San Francisco-based Resilient Network Systems, which makes an automated, policy-driven contextual access control package for enterprises and government agencies, came out Dec. 8 with the release of Resilient Access 3.0.

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Further reading

This is a solution designed for the connected organizations that extends access capabilities to automatically discover, organize and resolve the information or attributes needed to make smarter access decisions at scale.

Not only do users have to use multiple layers of identity to gain access to a system protected by Resilient, the system also has in its database external information about the user from social networks and other public resources. Thus, there are many more levels of information used by Resilient to get to know the people who should be working inside the confines of the system.

Resilient Access 3.0 connects organizations by going beyond identity to understand the complete context of any access request. Its home-built network-based architecture allows it to query distributed authoritative sources (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) to understand and resolve the subject, resource, action and environmental attributes that make up a typical access request.

Resilient Access 3.0 also includes traditional features like single-sign-on and multi-factor authentication, but also features a flexible policy workflow engine that enables organizations to quickly and easily safeguard files, apps, documents and data with their own custom access rules.

"There have been some great developments lately in identity access management, but there are some elements that have yet to be accomplished," Resilient Network Systems CEO Ethan Ayer told eWEEK. "An example would be what I would call a truly decentralized, internet-scale system that'll help us handle the most challenging problems, such as giving access to individuals, handling IoT, bring your own device (BYOD), etc.

"We're evolving, and Resilient is trying to provide a missing piece in terms of decentralized access management, which doesn't always rely on identity management occurring in the same place."

Resilient Access orchestrates all the necessary information so that organizations can be confident that they are granting appropriate access.

"Our solution gives customers a convenient way to gather enough context to answer more sophisticated questions like 'Is this a doctor?' or 'Is this a trusted device?'" Ayer said. "Enough data is already out there to separate good actors from the bad, thus eliminating most fraud and theft. It is our job as a community to connect and organize that data to manifest a more secure and private online future."

Resilient Access has been in development for several years by former Sun Microsystems executives Rob Gingell and Mark Hapner, among others, and is being used in both the public and private sectors.

In addition to CEO Ayer, a former Partner at One Equity Partners & Milestone Venture Partners, the leadership team is comprised of Chairman Richard Spires, ex-CIO of the Department of Homeland Security; EVP of Development Gingell; and Hapner, an ex-Chief Engineer of Sun Microsystems and Sun Fellow and Consulting Engineer, who also was J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) Lead Architect and ex-Sun Distinguished Engineer.

Chris J. Preimesberger

Chris J. Preimesberger is Editor-in-Chief of eWEEK and responsible for all the publication's coverage. In his 13 years and more than 4,000 articles at eWEEK, he has distinguished himself in reporting...

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